Privacy Group Files FTC Complaint Over Jay-Z’s Android App

Remember how Jay-Z planned to launch his album, Magna Carta, in a rather unique way which was to give Samsung Galaxy owners an exclusive access to the album ahead of everyone else? It did not work out the way he intended as the album had leaked online ahead of schedule. Jay-Z then expressed he felt “disheartened” over the entire launch due to there being technical difficulties as well, but it looks like that is not the end of Jay-Z’s problems because it seems that the FTC could launch an investigation into the app.

This was filed by a privacy group who felt that the app, which was designed just to provide the album to Samsung Galaxy owners, seemed to request permission to a lot of private data, which was odd considering the app’s sole purpose. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, “Samsung failed to disclose material information about the privacy practices of the App, collected data unnecessary to the functioning of the Magna Carta App, deprived users of meaningful choice regarding the collection of their data, interfered with device functionality, and failed to implement reasonable data minimization procedures.”

However a report from the Los Angeles Times cites Jeremiah Reynolds, an IP lawyer, who claims that the FTC probably will not be taking any legal action due to the lack of an umbrella federal privacy law, and was quoted as saying, “People may believe it’s intrusive, but as long is it’s correctly described and as long as the people give consent, I don’t see what the issue is.” We have to wonder if this album launch is one of Jay-Z’s “99 problems”.